Achievements in the first decade of the Bolivarian Revolution supported by indicators

Venezuela has taken a significant step that is hard to describe in words but is evident in numbers, said Hugo Chávez, President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

“During these ten years of Revolution, Venezuela became, according to United Nations data, the country with the highest level of human development in the continent, and according to figures from Cepal [Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean], [Venezuela] became one of the Latin American nations with the lowest inequality,” the President said in an interview with CNN en español.

President Chávez also emphasized that since 1999 poverty has been reduced from 51 percent to 25%, and extreme poverty fell from 25% to just 7%.

Asked about the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (Alba), he affirmed that the bloc is a geopolitical space that has made important strides in just four years.

“Cuba and Venezuela, key members of Alba, have increased their commercial trade from $200 to $3 billion. Trade with Nicaragua has increased by 80% and we expect it to double this year,” he highlighted.

The President also indicated that Bolivia’s becoming an illiteracy-free territory last year is an Alba achievement; both Cuba and Venezuela are also illiteracy-free.

On Monday the tenth anniversary of the Bolivarian Revolution was celebrated with events in the country’s main plazas and with the holding of an extraordinary Alba summit.

The following leaders participated in the summit: Evo Morales, President of Bolivia; Rafael Correa, President of Ecuador; Manuel Zelaya, President of Honduras; Daniel Ortega, President of Nicaragua; Roosevelt Skerrit, Prime Minister of Dominica; José Ramón Machado Ventura, Vice President of Cuba; and host Hugo Chávez Frías, President of Venezuela.